East End Food Co-op is a full-service natural and organic food market located in Pittsburgh, PA. For over 40 years, we’ve been a trusted source for high-quality, nourishing food. As a local business, we support sustainable food, environmental responsibility, and our community. Our Co-op market is open to the public and membership is not required to make purchases.
Fresh. Local. Organic.
At the East End Food Co-op, you’ll find affordable organic grocery staples, unique locally-produced artisan products, an expansive bulk foods department, and a community vibe and exceptional customer service that simply can’t be found in big box stores. We offer the freshest produce, meat, and cheeses from small operation family farms, all located within 250 miles of our store. Our Co-op Café makes healthy eating easy with fresh juices, coffee, and soups; and a fully stocked grab-and-go deli.
Food you can trust.
Our product mix is carefully curated to ensure the items on our shelves are produced using humane and ecologically sound methods that don’t exploit people, animals, or our environment. When you shop at the Co-op, you support a sustainable regional food infrastructure, fair labor standards, and living wages. Investing in a membership strengthens an alternative business model that believes in putting people and planet before profit.
East End Food Co-op believes that you have the right to know how we choose the products on our shelves. We’ve developed these purchasing guidelines to reflect the core values expressed in our Ends Policy Statement (see above). This guide allows us to make conscious choices that return value to our members, our community, and our planet.
We strive to promote products and methods that are:
- Whole* and minimally processed*
- Local*
- Certified Organic
- Certified Naturally Grown and/or Biodynamic
- Non-GMO Project Verified/Specified Non-GMO
- Certified Fair Trade
- Certified Humane
- Minimally packaged or in recyclable &/or returnable containers
- Produced using humane and ecologically sound methods that don’t exploit people, animals, or our environment
We will not knowingly carry products that:
- Contain artificial ingredients, such as colorings, flavorings, preservatives or additives
- Contain known harmful ingredients such as nitrates or nitrites, synthetic chemicals, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, or MSG
- Contain antibiotics or growth hormones
- Have been tested on animals
*local = within a 250 mile radius of Pittsburgh extending to all of Pennsylvania
*whole = having only one ingredient: itself
*minimally processed = using traditional, low-tech methods of processing or preservation, for example: smoking, roasting, freezing, canning, drying, or fermenting. These techniques do not fundamentally alter or separate whole foods.
East End Food Co-op’s Ends Statement
The East End Food Co-op exists to enhance physical and social health to our community. To these ends, we will create:
- A sustainable member-owned business open to everyone;
- An ethical and resilient food infrastructure;
- A vibrant, dynamic community of happy, healthy people;
- A creative vision to transform the future.